The Paintings
Putting things into context……..
During the circumnavigation of the globe by Joseph Banks, with Captain Cook on the Endeavour, -1768- 1771- he collected 1,400 plant specimens. With Parkinson, his accompanying artist who made 1,300 drawings & paintings during the voyage they later made 743 full colour illustrations of plant & animal specimens from the places they travelled. Parkinson died of dysentery & malaria on the return voyage in Batavia.
Le Règne animal ( The Animal Kingdom) by French naturalist George Cuvier was first published in December 1816.
Alfred Russel Wallace travelled largely on his own around the Malay Archipelago during an 8 year period 1854-1862. He collected 125,660 specimens including more than 500 new to western science at the time. HIs book’ The Malay Archipelago’ was published in 1869.
Since all these dates above, the species in the jungles & all other biome’s of the world have steadily lost their footing in their home habitats, due to the huge impact of man on the environment, wild species turned into commodities, poaching, hunting, wildlife & plant trafficking, & deforestation.
In Malaysia we are seeing the imminent extinction of the icons of the tropical jungles. The Sumatran rhinoceros is gone, the Malayan tiger is on the brink, Sunda pangolin are on the brink, the Malayan tapir, orang utans, sun bears, borneo pygmy elephants, Asian elephant, clouded leopard, rhinoceros hornbill, the lar gibbon, the otter civet, Dipterocarpus lamellatus (only 12 of these mighty trees left) is on the brink. The list continues.
The Prints
Mythical Creatures: My Series of Animal Vintage Prints :
I found all these prints at antique markets in Italy & bought them because of the creatures depicted. All are found within the Malay archipelago. The birds are stand-alone prints but the smaller prints are pages torn out of a much larger book. The animals were illustrations from those found in ‘Le Regne Animal’ but on the backs of these pages are recipes for tinctures, or prescriptions for certain illnesses. A strange mix for a book but it makes the pages all the more interesting.
The animals in these vintage prints, below, so beautifully depicted by the artists & engravers, are future mythical creatures, only to be imagined by looking at these old prints & paintings. I painted directly onto the vintage prints with watercolour to envelope them in my painted jungle. I then worked with my printer to scale up the images & have produced a set of archival quality prints of these works. It’s easy to paint a mythical forest around them, but not so easy to return to this paradise from the past. How I wish we could engulf them once again in the virgin jungle & forest in which they were found.
Print 1:
Argus Pheasant/Phasianus argus:
Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
Original artwork: Watercolour on vintage print
Archival Print on ILFORD smooth cotton sprite 100%cotton. 280gsm
Print Size: 13.21” x 20.39” / 33.55 x 51.79cm
GBP100 per Print
Delivery/Post not included
Artist: Edouard Travies de Villers 1809-1865
French
Specialised in the representation dod will animals & insects. HIs ornithological drawings are considered some of the finest ever.
Among the earliest of artist to place the animals he painted into a representation of their natural habitat
Types du règne animal: Buffon en estampes
Engraver: Guyard Fournier
French
Died 1766?
Produced engravings from Travies’ illustrations in George Cuviers publication of ‘Le Regne Animal’
Print 2:
Wild Boar(F)/Maiale Indiano:
Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
Original artwork: Watercolour on vintage print
Archival Print on ILFORD smooth cotton sprite 100%cotton. 280gsm
Print Size: 9.45” x 14.57” / 24.03cm x 37cm
GBP55 per Print
Delivery/Post not included
Artist: Edouard Travies de Villers 1809-1865
French
Specialised in the representation dod will animals & insects. HIs ornithological drawings are considered some of the finest ever.
Among the earliest of artist to place the animals he painted into a representation of their natural habitat
Types du règne animal: Buffon en estampes
Engraver: Guyard Fournier
French
Died 1766?
Produced engravings from Travies’ illustrations in George Cuviers publication of ‘Le Regne Animal’
Print 3:
Tree Shrew/Tupaia ferruginea:
Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
Original artwork: Watercolour on vintage print
Archival Print on ILFORD smooth cotton sprite 100%cotton. 280gsm
Print Size: 9.45” x 14.57” / 24.03cm x 37cm
GBP55 per Print
Delivery/Post not included
Artist: Edouard Travies de Villers 1809-1865
French
Specialised in the representation dod will animals & insects. HIs ornithological drawings are considered some of the finest ever.
Among the earliest of artist to place the animals he painted into a representation of their natural habitat
Types du règne animal: Buffon en estampes
Engraver: Guyard Fournier
French
Died 1766?
Produced engravings from Travies’ illustrations in George Cuviers publication of ‘Le Regne Animal’
Print 4:
Tapir/Tapiro Indiano:
Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
Original artwork: Watercolour on vintage print
Archival Print on ILFORD smooth cotton sprite 100%cotton. 280gsm
Print Size: 9.45” x 14.57” / 24.03cm x 37cm
GBP55 per Print
Delivery/Post not included
Artist: Werner, Jacques Christophe 1798-1865
French
Historie naturelle des mammifères
Engraver: Christophe Annedouche 1803-1866
French
Le règne Animal
Print 5:
Bird of Paradise/Oiseau de Paradis:
Rebecca Duckett-Wilkinson
Original artwork: Watercolour on vintage print
Archival Print on ILFORD smooth cotton sprite 100%cotton. 280gsm
Print Size: 13.21” x 20.39” / 33.55 x 51.79cm
BBP100 per Print
Delivery/Post not included
Artist: Edouard Travies de Villers 1809-1865
French
Specialised in the representation dod will animals & insects. HIs ornithological drawings are considered some of the finest ever.
Among the earliest of artist to place the animals he painted into a representation of their natural habitat
Types du règne animal: Buffon en estampes
Engraver: Guyard Fournier
French
Died 1766?
Produced engravings from Travies’ illustrations in George Cuviers publication of ‘Le Regne Animal’
